The beginning

The woman in red walked out of the store and headed towards the newspapers.

She was walking so swiftly that she didn’t realize she had hit a little child who was crying so loud at the moment. “Shush! Shush!” She tried petting the girl but she resisted on making her life a living hell. “Who on earth has this child?”

“I’m so sorry,” a woman took the child and immediately she stopped crying.

“Anna!” a man was heading towards the two women with a magazine in hand. He was officially dressed in a suiting suit and a nicely laced pair of brogues to match.

The woman and her child had left, so, it was the other woman standing by the roadside who was Anna. She folded her arms waiting for the man to approach her and when he did she smiled. “Took an hour crossing the road, Paul.”

He was panting heavily. “Not that easy Miss. Charming.”

She chuckled, covering her pretty lips with the back of her palms. “I’m heading to the newspapers. Shall we?”

Paul nodded as he walked alongside her, passing every pedestrians, he adjusted his tie. “I think you should let go of Finn’s case, Anna. It was confirmed he got married the day of your wedding.”

“And you expect me to buy that?” Anna asked disgustedly with fingers seeking for a home in her coat’s pocket.

Paul replied. “There’s no other news apart from that, you’ve practically gone everywhere just because of him. You went to his home in Freetown, his house here in Utah, his workplace, best club…”

“Wait a minute!” she snapped. “What a great idea! The best club, his best club. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Shit!” Paul cursed as they walked down the street into the newspaper company.

A man was hovering by the main door, munching through a nicely baked cookie, immediately he sighted Anna and Paul, he hid the cookie in his breast pocket. “Welcome Ma’am, welcome Mr. Paul.”

“You shouldn’t be eating during work hours Anthony, I warned you the previous day.”

The small particles from the cookie were hanging underneath his lips and above his nose. “I’m sorry Ma’am,” he wiped them off.

Anna scoffed and walked in with Paul behind her. The large room was filled with workers who were all focused on their desktops. It was a nice environment, a busy one at that, with everyone minding his business, some were relaxing on the chair and typing while some sat up straight.

At the scent of Anna’s cologne, everyone maintained the same posture, the sit-up-straight posture.

“Good job guys, I’m glad seeing you all work together,” Anna commended, walking to the end of the room, towards a grey door with Paul still behind her.

“Miss. McLain,” a lady called, walking towards her.

Paul smiled as the lady approached them with a mount of file in hand, he hurriedly helped her with some.

“Thanks,” she whispered and turned to her boss. “Miss McLain, I’m so sorry for your loss, I heard the terrifying news on Mr. King’s escape,” she said the words in a nice way than in a mocking way though anyone would know she was nicely mocking Anna.

Anna just nodded with her eyes glittering almost in tears. “Th…thanks Hannah.”

Paul frowned and returned the files, whispering into Hannah’s ears. “Thanks for adding to her pains.”

The lady smiled and walked away while Anna found her hand in the door knob and turned it anticlockwise, unlocking the door and walking into the gigantic office, her office. She quickly walked to a seat and fell on it, cleaning the tears on her cheeks. “Finn couldn’t have betrayed me, I made him who he was.”

“An…”

“I built him from a coward to a warrior and all he could do was betray me? No!” she shouted, kicking her heels off her legs. “No!”

Paul walked to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “And you should be your own warrior, Anna. Be strong, I know how this hurts a lot but please we can’t keep on like this.”

She rested her head on his chest and busted into an unending tears. “I love him Paul. What if he is in danger?”

Paul had also thought about that but he didn’t want to jump into conclusion, Finn himself never liked him, they were never in good terms. “He’s alright Anna.”

“Then why did he leave?”

He sighed and picked the shoes on the floor, returning them to Anna. “How’s your dad?”

Anna wiped off her tears and relaxed on the chair. Her eyes had turned bloody and it didn’t look funny. “He never stops reminding me of my pains and he never stops saying, he warned me,” she bit her lips and looked down at her fingers. “He was right though, Finn was never the man for me.”

“No he isn’t. I know that anywhere Finn is, he still loves you.”

She nodded. “I love him too. How’s Cara?” she winked.

His cheeks had suddenly turned red, he tried to hide his face but failed.

“Someone’s blushing.”

“Cara is okay, I guess,” he snapped his fingers, a sign he had something important to say. “The rape case against John has been abandoned?”

“No. I took it up again, justice must be done to that young woman who was defiled by that monster. He can’t get away with it.”

Paul sighed. “I think you should be careful. John is a terrible man, he is very dangerous.”

She stood up and walked to the table at the center of the room, fixing some files on the table. “I know how dangerous he was before I took the case up and made sure it is printed here.”

“I’m so sorry, but you’ve got to accept the truth, this is no child’s play.”

“And I’m not a child,” she snapped back. “John has killed a lot of young women and got scot free, but this time, I promise, he would face the consequences of the law.”